Economic Geography

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Economic Geography

• Unit 4
• Primary Resource Activities

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Introduction

• Unit 4 shifts the focus from physical geography
  to economic geography
• A study of how humans interact with land
  resources (i.e., farming and forestry) and ocean
  resources (i.e., oil recovery and fishing) to
  satisfy needs and wants.
• Students will also understand that culture and
  technology shape what is deemed to be a resource
  and that the use of resources varies from place
  to place but still reflects spatial patterns.

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WHAT IS A RESOURCE?

• A RESOUCE MAY BE DEFINED AS AVAILABLE ASSESTS OR
  SOURCES OF WEALTH, THAT BENEFIT AND FULFILL THE
  NEEDS AND WANTS OF A COMMUNITY.

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Human Resources

• In the form of Entrepreneurs and workers for
  massive economic interests, called corporations
  oversee the operation of capital resources
• Capital resources are those resources that are
  commercially bought and sold in order to conduct
  large-scale extraction and processing of
  (usually) natural resources.

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Capital Resources

• Would include items such as
• Factories for processing, such as Refineries and
  warehousing
• Large equipment involved in processing and
  refining the resources, such as pipelines, and
  heavy transportation equipment.
• The construction of drill rigs for ocean
  extraction of petroleum

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Natural Resource

• Natural source material we find in a given
  environment, however there are conditions that
  must be met which determine whether or not
  something is considered a resource.

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The three conditions that determine if a natural
material is potentially a resource

• Need or Want IT MUST FULLILL SOME SORT OF NEED
  OR A WANT FOR THE CULTURE WHO HAS COME INTO
  CONTACT WITH IT
• For example, the first discovery of oil in
  Pennsylvania by local Indian tribes did not
  result in wide scale use of it, as they did not
  have much use for it.
• 2)Technological Development The culture in
  question must have the techonological capabllilty
  to procure and produce the final products of a
  resource.
• For example, the ocean tides have long been
  considered as an energy source that could do much
  to help alleviate the worlds energy concerns.
  To date, however the technology to do so
  considered experimental.
• 3)Profitability The extraction and processing
  of the resource must make a profit in order to be
  considered feasible.
• For example, the hibernia oil field failed to get
  developed when oil prices were considered to low
  for the field to be profitable to the oil
  companies involved.

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How the use of a resource can be influenced by
cultural practices.

• The Case study on Chinas use of agricultural
  land shows how it is subject to social and
  economic factors and crises
• War
• Natural Disasters
• Mismanagement
• Political Ideology

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The terms inputs, processes, and outputs

• Farming Inputs Those ingredients that are
  necessary for conducting the faming process.
  Some of them occur naturally (Climate,
  topography) while others are produced by humans
  (Labour, Fertilizer, pesticides,)
• Farming Processes Are the activities specific
  to a farming method
• Farming Outputs Are the final products produced
  by a farmer

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Inputs

• Given a case study of a farming operation you
  should be able to brieflydescribe (inputs)-
  the workers and their source- the kinds of
  tools and equipment used- the infrastructure-
  the capital invested in the operation- the
  types of seeds or young livestock used- the
  nature of the land- the quality of the soil-
  climatic conditions.

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Outputs

• Refers to those things that are produced by the
  system. 
• For example in cattle farming the outputs could
  include beef and raw hide whereas vegetable farm
  outputs could include carrots, potatoes and
  cabbage.

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Processes

• Refers to those procedures that occur in the
  system to convert the inputs to outputs.  For
  example in vegetable farming the processes would
  include, sowing seed, watering, fertilizing,
  weeding, aerating, harvesting.

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• given a case study of a farming operation you
  should be able to briefly examine (processes)-
  the division of labour who does what?- the
  spatial movement of people and animals Are the
  workers migratory?  Are the animals moved between
  grazing lands?- how the crops are planted crop
  rotation, contour plowing, is any land left
  fallow?- irrigation and soil maintenance
  practices is there a need for watering?  how
  frequently do they fertilize?  What do they
  fertilize with?- the annual cycle of farming
  activities- how farming activities spatially
  arranged

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These four definitions give you the basic
understanding so you can apply that knowledge to

• analyze the processes in a farming operation
• relate farming processes to inputs
• relate the outputs in a farming operation to the
  processes and inputs.

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• There are many different types of agriculture
  being practiced all over the world. However, it
  is possible to classify the type of farms based
  on similar characteristics.
• This lesson provides you with some
  classifications of farms.
• We are not looking at all classifications but you
  must remember these. You will be asked to apply
  these to case studies of farm systems.

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• commercial farming and subsistence farming
• extensive farming and intensive farming
• shifting cultivation, agribusiness, and nomadic
  herding

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Commercial farming

• Involves the production of food for sale while
  subsistence farming involves the production of
  food to feed your family.
• The large wheat farms of the prairies would
  obviously be commercial while aunt
• Sally's vegetable garden in the back yard would
  be subsistence.

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Extensive agriculture

• Uses large tracts of inexpensive land in
  unpopulated areas whereas intensive agriculture
  normally uses smaller tracts of land in more
  densely populated areas.
• Cattle farming in western Canada would be
  extensive while dairy farming in the Goulds would
  be more intensive.

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extensive agriculture

• Shifting cultivation is another form of extensive
  agriculture. Planting crops in a region until
  fertility diminishes and then moving to a fresh
  area to plant means there must be lots of land
  available.

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• Nomadic herding is similar to shifting
  agriculture in that it involves moving from place
  to place with an extensive use of land but
  differs in that nomadic herding involves the
  raising of cattle, sheep or other herding
  animals.

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• Agribusiness is a form of commercial farming.
• It is run by large corporations that are self
  sufficient providing their own inputs and
  processing their own outputs.

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The formation of oil

• The formation of oil takes a tremendously long
  time. 
• Millions of years ago plants and animals of the
  oceans died settled on the ocean floor. 
• While large organisms contributed to the oil it
  was often the mass of small and microscopic
  organisms that contributed the bulk of the carbon
  for OIL.

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• Over many thousands of years bacterial action and
  extreme pressure from layers of sediment
  converted the organic matter to oil gas. 
• The extreme pressure came form the continuous
  build up of sediment. 
• The pressure created tremendous amounts of heat
  which helped the process along.
• The oil moved within the soil and oil reserves
  formed when non-porous rock lay above porous
  rock.
• Oil seeps up through the porous rock is trapped
  by the non-porous rock.

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Oil Reserves

• Figure 11.1 in our book shows 4 types of oil
  reserves. 
• You will notice that all four have a nonporous
  rock cap and a porous rock source. 
• The porous rock allows the oil to seep into the
  cavity and the nonporous rock prevents the oil
  from leaving.

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Fault Trap the vertical movement of the earth's
crust forms a v-shaped reservoir.
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Fold Trap the up fold or anticline in the layers
of the earth's crust form the reservoir.
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Salt Dome Trap The salt dome forms an up-fold in
the earth's crust not unlike the anticline caused
by tectonic forces.
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Stratigraphic trap has a former limestone reef
as its porous rock feeding the reservoir.
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Techniques Used to Locate Oil Gas Reserves

• Before 1900s
• The search for oil was limited to the search for
  oil seeping to the surface along fault lines
• After early 1900s
• Geologists knew to drill in gentle anticlines or
  faulted sedimentary rock where reservoirs of oil
  might occur.

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Modern oil exploration on the seas
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Modern oil exploration on the seas

• ships tow sound emitters and hydrophones
• different rock layers reflect sound differently
• computers convert the sound data into 3D pictures
  of the oceans rock layers
• Wild cat wells are drilled to test for oil
• if they strike oil then delineating wells are
  drilled to determine the size of the reservoir
• if they miss oil then the core samples are
  examined for evidence of oil.

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Patterns of Offshore Oil Production

• Looking at figure 11.2 on page 184 we can see
  that most oil regions of the world are on land.
  The ones that are under the ocean floor are
  concentrated in the North sea around the United
  Kingdom and in the Gulf of Mexico.Figure 11.3
  shows the oil production by OPEC countries. It
  too shows that the North Sea and the Gulf of
  Mexico are regions of high offshore oil
  production. It also reveals that offshore oil
  production is increasing faster than land
  production of oil. West Africa, especially
  around the Ivory Coast, seems to have high oil
  reserves and is increasing in oil production too.

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physical and human factors that influence the
decision to recover oil and gas from an off-shore
reserve.

• The systems model is useful in helping determine
  the viability of an oil reserve. 
• The determination must be made whether cost of
  inputs and processing will be offset by the value
  of the out-put oil. 

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Physical Factors Affecting Off-shore Oil Recovery

• Ocean related factors include 1) Ocean Depth  2)
  Ocean currents 3) Icebergs pack ice
• Climate/weather related factors include 1) Wind
  speeds  2) Storms
• Oil Related factors include  1) size of the
  reserve  2) Oil quality
• Environmental protection factors  How do these
  other physical factors affect the chances of an
  oil spill?   Other resources like fish stocks,
  marine mammals, and spawning grounds would be
  affected in the event of an oil spill.

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Human Factors Affecting Off-shore Oil Recovery

• Worker Safety How safe can the drill rig and
  production platform be for the workers?
•  Financial Factors include
• cost of inputs like building a rig to withstand
  icebergs, building a rig to drill at great depths
  or building a production platform that can
  withstand hurricane winds
• cost of processes like transporting the oil from
  off-shore to land, maintaining the platform's
  equipment, and pressurizing the reserve
• price of oil which is set by world markets and
  determines if enough money is recovered from the
  oil to exceed the cost of production.

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Human Factors Affecting Off-shore Oil Recovery

• The decision whether to drill or not often comes
  down to the question will the cost of overcoming
  the all other factors be offset by the price oil
  can be sold for and make the venture financially
  viable?

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A Brief History of Oil Recovery
Keeping the Connection to Land In the 1860s
wharves were built extending 365m out into the
ocean to facilitate ocean drilling off
California. Letting go of Shore In the 1920s a
drill rig was built on wooden pilings in lake
Maracaibo , Venezuela Moving to Steel In the
1930s a drill rig was built on steel structures
in the Gulf of Mexico but it was limited to 7m of
water or less.
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Letting go of the Ocean Floor

• In 1956 the first drill ship was built allowing
  drilling in deeper water. These types of drill
  ships allowed exploration off the shores of
  Newfoundland.

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Modern Drill Rigs

• We will investigate 4 different types of oil rigs
  used to recover oil from under the ocean floor.
  Figure 11.4 in your book shows all four rig
  types.
• Submersible Rigs fixed columns ground them on
  the ocean floor
• Jack-up Rigs extendable legs ground them on the
  ocean floor
• Semi-submersible Anchored rigs are anchored
  above the drill site.
• Semi-submersible Dynamically Positioned use
  thrusters to maintain position above the drill
  site.

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Submersible Rigs

• Submersible rigs are normally limited to ocean
  depths of 20 m.
• For this reason they are limited to continental
  shelves, relatively close to shore.
• The rigs are floated as they are towed to drill
  site.
• Once in position ballast tanks are flooded until
  columns rest on ocean floor.

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Submersible Rigs
Note that a submersible is supported by COLUMNS
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Jack-Up Rigs

• Jack-up rigs are able to drill in deeper water
  than submersible rigs.
• However, jack-up rigs are limited to a maximum
  ocean depth of 100 m.
• The jack-up is similar to the submersible in that
  it rests on the ocean floor.
• However its steel legs (Not columns) rest on
  ocean floor.

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Jack-Up Rigs

• jack-up rigs are distinguishable by high X-braced
  steel legs which extend above the platform.

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Semi Submersible Anchored Rigs

• Semi-Submersible Anchored rigs float on the
  ocean.
• Because they are anchored to the ocean floor they
  are are limited to a maximum ocean depth of 200
  meters.
• The rigs are built on land which is flooded upon
  completion so the rig floats.
• Then the rig is towed to the drill site. Water is
  pumped in and out of Ballast tanks to help
  stability along with anchor lines.
• Oil is stored in pontoons until shipped on-shore

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Semi Submersible Anchored Rigs
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Semi Submersible-Dynamically Positioned

• Semi-Submersible Dynamically Positioned rigs are
  able to drill outside the continental shelf.
  However, they are still limited to a maximum
  ocean depth of 2000 meters.
• Like other rigs they are towed to the drill site.
  Water is pumped in and out of Ballast tanks to
  help stability but there are no anchor lines.
• Note dynamic means changing or moving. Thrusters
  position the rig over the drill site.
• Like the Anchored rigs oil is stored in pontoons
  until shipped on-shore.

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Directional Drilling

• Directional Drilling is depicted in figure 11.5
  on page 187 of your text. This technique allows
  drill companies to reduce movement from one small
  oil pocket to the next. It also increases the
  drill holes exposure to source (porous) rock.

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Directional Drilling
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• The Hibernia case study in your book serves as a
  great example of a number of the topics we are
  looking at. 
• It is not important for you to remember every
  fact, detail, piece of technology at Hibernia as
  much as it is important for you to recognize this
  as an example of
• Types of drill rig platforms reasons for using
  them
• Stages and components of oil field development

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• There are several factors that affect the
  profitability of oil production.
• Production can not proceed unless the company has
  a good expectation of making a profit.
• The cost of production and the price of oil are
  the two sides of the equation.

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Oil Price Cost of Production Profit

• As we have seen in lesson one the cost of
  production is decreasing.
• Oil exploration is more accurate so less money is
  spent finding the oil.
• Recall our discussion of seismic (sound wave)
  testing over the ocean.
• Production platforms are more efficient. Remember
  also our discussion of the history of production
  platforms.
• Directional drilling has increased contact with
  source rock and reduced the need for movement of
  production platforms.

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• The aspect of the equation that we have not
  looked at is OIL PRICES.
• Oil prices are controlled by the markets and OPEC
  (Oil Producing Economic Countries) When oil
  prices are high we complain at the pumps but the
  oil companies have a greater chance of making a
  profit.The case study of Hibernia shows this
  equation well.
• While production costs were decreasing the price
  of oil was too low to make the project
  profitable.

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Large Scale Farming

• Farming on a larger scale occurs when dozens or
  hundreds of labourers are hired to perform the
  work required, and the farming output supports
  more than just one family.
• Large scale farming is Always commercial
• Students will answer questions12 18, pp. 153
  158 to better understand large scale commercial
  farming.

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Trends and issues in the management of forest
resources

• There are many aspects of climate that impact on
  forest development, some are discussed here,
  while you will investigate others through your
  readings.

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Precipitation

• Forests require a large amount of water. 
• Consequently, one of the greatest factors that
  determine whether a forest will grow in a region
  is amount of precipitation.
• Tropical areas with high rainfall have tropical
  rain forests.  Tropical areas that have
  intermittent rainfall have savannahs because
  there is not enough water to support trees and a
  forest. 

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Seasons

• Temperate regions of the world often have
  deciduous trees to help them deal with the lack
  of water availability in winter.  Some regions
  have dry seasons and they have deciduous trees
  even though it does not get "cold." 
• The type of trees and forest present in a region
  is determined by the climate.  Trees have adapted
  to climate just as animals have.  The needle leaf
  trees of the coniferous forests are adapted to
  deal with winter and the lack of available water
  in winter.  Both the tropical regions of the
  world and the sub arctic regions of the world
  have evergreen trees.

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Diversity

• Colder regions tend to have less biodiversity
  while tropical regions tend to have greater
  biodiversity. 
• The same is true of trees. 
• Tropical forests tend to be a blend of many
  different species, while coniferous forests tend
  to be "pure stands" of one type of tree.

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Deforestation

• Approximately one-third of the earth's land
  masses are covered in forest.  The forest
  provides much for nature and mankind. 
  Biodiversity, habitats for animals, food for
  animals, air purification and water retention are
  some of the values of our worlds forests.  Man
  has always made use of the forests and the trees
  for things like recreation, building materials,
  home heat and paper.

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Deforestation

• For many decades we have used the forest without
  regard for the sustainability of forests. 
• Will coming generations have a forest to rely
  on? 
• Are we allowing deforestation to occur at a rate
  faster than it can replace itself?

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Why are we using so much forest resource?

• Some reasons for extensive deforestation include
• expanding needs in agriculture
• urbanization
• mining operations
• hydroelectric operations

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Why are we using so much forest resource?

• Asia's growing population means that more forest
  is cleared for housing and for agricultural land
  to feed the people.
• In Africa forests are being cleared to make room
  for subsistence farming to support the growing
  population.

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Why are we using so much forest resource?

• Latin America has cleared forests for major
  hydroelectric projects to provide stable
  electrical supplies to an increasing number of
  people. 
• Large scale cattle ranches and urbanization have
  also been the cause of deforestation in Latin
  America.

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Clear cutting and selective cutting

• Clear cutting is a form of forest harvesting that
  removes all trees from an area. 
• Marketable trees and undesired trees alike are
  cleared and the land is left uncovered. 
• Strip cutting is actually a variation on clear
  cutting where strips of forest are left between
  the clear cut areas. 

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Clear cutting and selective cutting

• Selective cutting is a form of forest harvesting
  that removes only the desired trees and leaves
  the other trees in place. 
• Immature trees, undesired species and underbrush
  is all left intact. 

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Which is better?

• Clear cutting has the advantage of being
  economical and safe whereas selective cutting has
  the advantage of leaving the ecosystem intact. 
• There have been raging debates over the type of
  cutting that should occur in the forest
  industry. 

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Sustainable Forestry

• Sustainable Forestry is simple and complex.  The
  basic idea is simple. 
• If we cut trees faster than they grow back, we
  will run out of trees. 
• However, as the world's population increases so
  does the demand for forestry products and so does
  the demand for forestry land to be converted to
  housing, mining, and hydro-electricity projects.

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• If we look at sustainable forestry from a
  "Systems Model" perspective we can see that we
  have three options
• Improve what we input into forestry (replanting
  seedlings)
• Improve processes like
• road construction
• harvesting techniques
• environmental protection actions
• reducing losses (use all of the tree)
• Reduce the need of output product
•  Recycle
• Use of alternate building materials

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Major World Fish Stocks

• Simply put the worlds fish stocks are are located
  almost exclusively on the continental shelves.
• Figure 12.3 indicates that about 80 of fish
  harvested come from oceans.Why is this obvious? 
  Most of the worlds water is ocean therefore it
  would be expected that fresh water would only
  contain a small portion of the worlds fish.

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Major World Fish Stocks
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Major World Fish Stocks

• Figure 12.7 on page 202 might be a bit of a
  surprise to us Newfoundland and Labradoreans. It
  shows the world regions by tones of fish caught. 
  
• There seem to be four major fishing regions,
  globally speaking and eastern North America
  (north western Atlantic) is not one of them. The
  4 major fishing regions are
• North east Atlantic (England/Norway)
• North west Pacific (Japan)
• West central Pacific (China/Indonesia)
• South east Pacific (Western South America).

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Continental Shelves

• Most fishing grounds are found on continental
  shelves for 2 reasons.
• The shallow waters of the self make harvesting
  more cost effective.  The fish have to be landed
  on shore for human use so the regions closer to
  shore are fished most profitably.  See Figure
  12.6 on page 202.
• Most of the fish are on the continental shelves. 
  The shallow waters of the shelf promote plankton
  production which serve as the base of the marine
  food web including fish.
• Shallow water ensures enough light for
  phytoplankton and effective circulation of
  nutrients. See figure 12.4 on page 200.  Figure
  12.6, page 202 shows stocks correspond to shelves
  figure 12.4 shows food web and shelves.

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• There are a number of issues related to the
  fishery that require management, pollution and
  conservation of fish stocks top the list.

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Major Sources of Ocean Pollution

• There are a number of ways to classify the
  greatest ocean pollution concerns. 
• The Ocean Planet web site identifies 4 major
  sources of ocean pollution.

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Oil

• When it comes to mixing oil and water, oceans
  suffer from far more than an occasional
  devastating spill.
• Disasters make headlines, but hundreds of
  millions of gallons of oil quietly end up in the
  seas every year, mostly from non-accidental
  sources.

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The graph below, shows how many millions of
gallons of oil each source puts into the oceans
worldwide each year
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Toxic Material

• Industrial, agricultural, household cleaning,
  gardening, and automotive products regularly end
  up in water.
• About 65,000 chemicals are used commercially in
  the U.S. today, with about 1,000 new ones added
  each year. Only about 300 have been extensively
  tested for toxicity
• TBT, or tributyl tin, is added to boat paints to
  kill or repel barnacles and other nuisance
  organisms that foul ships' hulls.

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Dangerous Debris

• Our trash kills. When odds and ends of life on
  land-- particularly plastics--end up in the sea,
  they pose hazards to marine life. Animals drown
  or strangle from getting tangled in discarded or
  lost fishing gear, or suffer and even die from
  eating plastics and other garbage. 

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Deposits Withdrawals

• For thousands of years humans have viewed oceans
  as vast dumps for domestic, municipal, and
  industrial garbage.
• The enormous deep-sea resources will undoubtedly
  attract more miners in the future, as
  easy-to-reach deposits on land are depleted.

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Impact of New Catch Technology on the Environment

• Factory freezer Trawlers have likely had the most
  significant and negative impact.
• Highly efficient at catching fish which greatly
  reduces the population reproduction. Large
  diesel engines, echo sounding equipment, onboard
  freezers, and GPS navigation contribute to their
  efficiency.
• Destruction of the ocean floor by trawls/draggers
  eliminates good spawning locations for fish.
  Furthermore it disperses eggs, making
  fertilization more difficult.
• By-catch is often discarded. Some regulations
  require ships to return with low levels of by
  catch.
• Traveling great distances and being able to stay
  at sea for long periods allows trawlers from all
  over the world to congregate in good fishing
  areas. This puts added pressure on the fish
  stock.

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Declining Fish Resource the Livelihood of
Fishers.

• The declining fish resources may have a variety
  of affects on fishers.  Some of those include
• Fishers may concentrate more on conservation.
• Fishers and the community they live in will have
  to diversify
• develop aquaculture ex. Bay D'Espoir
• golf course construction ex. Frenchmans cove
• sea weed aquaculture ex. Isle aux Morts
• eco-tourism ex. Northern Peninsula
• catch underutilized species
• Can you think of other affects?